One ad responder even tells the FCC he'll need 1-2 weeks to fill the order.

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The Federal Communications Commission has stepped up its enforcement game, issuing citations to six individuals for advertising and selling signal cellphone jamming devices on Craigslist. The FCC has also warned several online vendors and produced public service announcements in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

“Over the last two weeks, the Bureau has targeted 23 signal jammer ads on Craigslist,” the FCC wrote in a press release on Monday.

“These actions resulted from aggressive undercover operations. Signal jamming devices, or ‘jammers,’ are radio frequency transmitters that intentionally block, jam, or interfere with authorized communications, such as cell phone calls, text messages, GPS systems, and Wi-Fi networks. Jammers are indiscriminate—they can block critical public safety and other emergency communications along with the targeted transmissions. As a result, it is a violation of federal law to market, sell, or use a jammer in the United States.”

In 2010, the FCC went after a UK-based jamming company that sold to American customers. That came a year after a US Senate hearing about the use of jammers in prisons, where one Texas state senator testified he had been called by a death row inmate from inside the prison.

A summer of stings

Over the summer, the FCC appears to have engaged a number of vendors across the country that were advertising jammers on Craigslist. The six new publicly listed jamming-related citations have a similar structure, outlining precisely where on Craigslist and how they were caught. Each of the citations—which appear to be mere warnings—describe how the agency may step up its enforcement game.

“Therefore, we caution you and other potential violators that going forward, and as circumstances warrant, we intend to impose substantial monetary penalties, rather than (or in addition to) warnings, on individuals who operate a jammer,” the FCC wrote. “Furthermore, the issuance of the instant citation does not preclude the Commission from taking additional enforcement action in this case.”

Under federal law, those possessing or selling jammers can be hit with a $16,000 fine for each violation, or each day of a continuing violations. The maximum penalty is $112,500.

“On July 26, 2012, the Spectrum Enforcement Division of the Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) through its market surveillance efforts, observed an advertisement for a jamming device on Craigslist,” wrote the FCC in its citation.

“The advertisement offered for sale a ‘[p]ortable GSM+3G Cell Mobile Phone signal Jammer.’ The posting, titled 'Cell Phone Signal Jammer—$88 (Tupelo, Mississippi),' read in part: 'This jammer system comes with a built in rechargeable Li-ion battery for hours of signal jamming, and with the included car power adapter, recharge and use this in your car as well as the office. Incredibly easy to operate, just switch it on and it will immediately start blocking CDMA, GSM, DCS, and 3G to keep your immediate surrounds annoyance free.' The advertisement also stated that bands of operation of the device were ‘850~960Mhz,’ ‘1805~1990Mhz,’ and ‘2110~2170Mhz’ and listed the name of the business offering the jammer—'Dancing Bear Technologies.'"

The citation goes on to explain that Bureau staff corresponded with Carpenter, who confirmed to the FCC his company was offering jammers for sale and that he would need “about 1-2 weeks” to fulfill the order.

Ars called and e-mailed Carpenter, but received no response as of press time.

Promoted Comments

These cell phone jammers have been available in Europe for two decades or more. I've wanted one for years. There is not much 911 danger inside a quite and nice restaurant just before some jackass gets a buzz from the pocket toy and proceeds to fill the room with his or her loud conversation for the next 5 or 10 minutes. The general public seems to be increasingly discourteous these days and it seems as if having a cell phone gives them some kind of extra legitimacy or privileged.

It is very irritating to wait in a lobby for an appointment, finally walk into the office and then be preempted perhaps by a phone call. Obviously the phone call must be more important than your personal visit... Or what about sitting at a table with an acquaintance or two and you're telling a humorous story. A cell phone rings, your "friend" blabs for the next 6 minutes with - you don't know who; and when he's done you can't remember what you were talking about in the first place?

Yeah; I've wanted a jammer for years. Just for certain occasions. One that fits in the pocket and has about a 30' range.

Putting aside for the moment the incredibly massive God-complex one must have to feel like the sole arbiter of what constitutes "acceptable risk of danger" to warrant cell-phone jamming, the number of people who believe it is acceptable to forcibly modify other people's behavior without their consent because it "offends" them is absolutely frightening to me. I wonder how many of these people are screaming about how unfair it is the government taxes or regulates them, or how their First Amendment right to free speech is perpetually infringed. Perhaps they don't, but the First Amendment argument is enough to warrant banning this technology without the extremely obvious safety concerns. The government is responsible for ensuring that our right to free speech remains unharmed, both by the government and by the tyranny of vigilantes who believe they can be the adjudicator of society's rights.

Not to mention THE SAFETY CONCERNS. So it's okay to use a cell phone jammer in a restaurant because restaurants are safe places? News flash, buddy, restaurants are notorious for fires, choking hazards, cuts, and other forms of personal injuries. In fact, everywhere you have an assembly of people you have risks. Who appointed you to be the judge of what is acceptable risk? If you had a cell phone jammer and kept me from being able to reach the authorities during an emergency, God forbid one that led to a death, you better believe that I'd be charging you for murder.

Also, it's a f***ing cell phone conversation, not a hate crime happening in front of you. If your friend conducts a full-length cell phone conversation in the middle of your story, you either have terrible friends or aren't a very interesting person. If you want to regulate society to "improve" it, go campaign for awareness or lobby get a law passed. Until then, stay the hell out of everyone else's business and property.

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Cyrus Farivar
Cyrus is a Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica, and is also a radio producer and author. His latest book, Habeas Data, about the legal cases over the last 50 years that have had an outsized impact on surveillance and privacy law in America, is out now from Melville House. He is based in Oakland, California. Emailcyrus.farivar@arstechnica.com//Twitter@cfarivar

65 Reader Comments

Anyone who's serious about jamming cell phones, or making a multi-watt laser to burn through stuff, or anything of that sort that is kinda-sorta legal to buy but not legal to use and thus possible but difficult to obtain? Anyone doing those sort of things already knows where to find it and is ordering the gadgets directly from manufacturers in China.

EDIT:

Quote:

As a result, it is a violation of federal law to market, sell, or use a jammer in the United States.”

Exactly right. Illegal for companies to sell and market, and illegal to use. But legal for the public to buy if they can find it, but not legal to switch on and actually jam with.

Generally speaking, transmitters of all sorts are legal to own, but not legal to switch on and transmit with without an appropriate FCC license.

The posting, titled 'Cell Phone Signal Jammer—$88 (Tupelo, Mississippi),' read in part: 'This jammer system comes with a built in rechargeable Li-ion battery for hours of signal jamming, and with the included car power adapter, recharge and use this in your car as well as the office. Incredibly easy to operate, just switch it on and it will immediately start blocking CDMA, GSM, DCS, and 3G to keep your immediate surrounds annoyance free.'

For a slightly more legal option, learn how to embed a Faraday cage within your cubicle walls. Of course, you'll need a door and a roof, but haven't you always wanted one anyways? It'd be the perfect gift to your resident misanthrope.

I have had a rather kick ass jammer hooked up to my motorcycle for over a year. It is great for dealing with the turds who are more busy farting with their phone instead of driving.

I have always wanted one in my trunk. As it says "illegal to block authorized communications", I wonder if it will be legal to run them in cars where yapping on the cell/distracted driving, is banned (and thus not authorized)?

JGoat wrote:

Sobad wrote:

I have had a rather kick ass jammer hooked up to my motorcycle for over a year. It is great for dealing with the turds who are more busy farting with their phone instead of driving.

And screw any problems it causes for people in emergency situations, ay?

It will also prevent people from winning the lottery!Seriously 99.99whatever percent of people yapping on the cell while driving are not having an "emergency" beyond needing to make sure the PVR is set up to record tonight's episode of Dancing With the Mouth Breathers. It is worse that drunk driving, wouldn't it be nice if we had drunk jammers in our car, that would sober up the people in the cars around us?"OMG but what about emergencies?!" is the common "I have a right to yap and drive" argument and doesn't hold water. Do we want to add panicked emergency driving to something already worse than drunk driving? I suppose we could also have drunks put on blindfolds before they drive home.

Anyone who's serious about jamming cell phones, or making a multi-watt laser to burn through stuff, or anything of that sort that is kinda-sorta legal to buy but not legal to use and thus possible but difficult to obtain? Anyone doing those sort of things already knows where to find it and is ordering the gadgets directly from manufacturers in China.

EDIT:

Quote:

As a result, it is a violation of federal law to market, sell, or use a jammer in the United States.”

Exactly right. Illegal for companies to sell and market, and illegal to use. But legal for the public to buy if they can find it, but not legal to switch on and actually jam with.

Generally speaking, transmitters of all sorts are legal to own, but not legal to switch on and transmit with without an appropriate FCC license.

Why would you buy from China? You can make a white noise generator with little difficulty if you know anything about electronics. If Im not mistaken, blocking radio is as simple as broadcasting your own garbage signal in the same frequency range you are looking to jam. Too much noise = loss of signal. Anyone serious about it, I would expect anyway, would just make them themselves, just like the guys on craigslist.

Seriously 99.99whatever percent of people yapping on the cell while driving are not having an "emergency"

When that 0.01 percent is you having an emergency on the road, you'll think back to your post and wonder why you wrote what you did. There's plenty of legitimate uses for a cellphone in a car as well, like someone NOT driving the car using it, or using the cellphone as a navigation device attached to the dashboard.

I have had a rather kick ass jammer hooked up to my motorcycle for over a year. It is great for dealing with the turds who are more busy farting with their phone instead of driving.

And screw any problems it causes for people in emergency situations, ay?

Most people who use jammers are self centered pricks who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves. Why else would they inconvenience every else in a restaurant or store just because they don't like people talking?

I have had a rather kick ass jammer hooked up to my motorcycle for over a year. It is great for dealing with the turds who are more busy farting with their phone instead of driving.

I have always wanted one in my trunk. As it says "illegal to block authorized communications", I wonder if it will be legal to run them in cars where yapping on the cell/distracted driving, is banned (and thus not authorized)?

In most places it is legal as long as you use a hands free kit, so yeah it would be authorized.

And then there's the pesky little detail of passengers using their phones. I don't think anywhere has a law against that...

Anyone who's serious about jamming cell phones, or making a multi-watt laser to burn through stuff, or anything of that sort that is kinda-sorta legal to buy but not legal to use and thus possible but difficult to obtain? Anyone doing those sort of things already knows where to find it and is ordering the gadgets directly from manufacturers in China.

EDIT:

Quote:

As a result, it is a violation of federal law to market, sell, or use a jammer in the United States.”

Exactly right. Illegal for companies to sell and market, and illegal to use. But legal for the public to buy if they can find it, but not legal to switch on and actually jam with.

Generally speaking, transmitters of all sorts are legal to own, but not legal to switch on and transmit with without an appropriate FCC license.

Why would you buy from China? You can make a white noise generator with little difficulty if you know anything about electronics. If Im not mistaken, blocking radio is as simple as broadcasting your own garbage signal in the same frequency range you are looking to jam. Too much noise = loss of signal. Anyone serious about it, I would expect anyway, would just make them themselves, just like the guys on craigslist.

You can make one. But the frequency ranges are so wide. And then there are 5 bands. And then the frequency itself is relatively high (up to 2 GHz). It's hard making your own stable oscillator at that freq and then finding a power transistor that will work as a final at 2 GHz. It seems like a lot of iffy work to me. Maybe if I had a schematic and someone sold me all the parts as a kit? Improvising a cell phone jammer isn't easy. OTOH, you can buy one from China for only a little over the cost of parts.

Call me a nerd, but this is a problem already solved by filesystem permissions. "If user 555-555-5555's triangulated location is within X, Y latitude/longitude, and user is not registered as an (emergency responder/government employee with clearance X/other authorized user), user will be redirected to an operator and (all/unauthorized users') calls will be (recorded/monitored)."

It keeps 911 access, would prevent mischief, and adds momentum to the Orwellian police state society seems hell bent on hurtling toward because it'd be easy to set up a police system with maps+drag and drop boxes for areas, then right click + click 'properties', click the 'police only' box, hit 'apply', and wait for user complaints about how they can't save their files.

I'm not for or against this idea, but I'm completely against jamming. 911 calls always need to be able to go out, and law abiding citizens shouldn't have to fear their government.

I use my cellphone constantly in my car - in its car dock, where it provides me live-updated traffic information and assists with a few open source mapping projects, all of which require a data connection -- including ones that might allow me to report road hazards which could save lives.

There was a trucker with a GPS jammer in New Jersey once, presumably because he didn't want his bosses watching him too closely (this is apparently common in trucking and delivery companies). He drove past EWR most days, knocking out the airport's GPS equipment each time. They busted his ass for it.

Anyone who's serious about jamming cell phones, or making a multi-watt laser to burn through stuff, or anything of that sort that is kinda-sorta legal to buy but not legal to use and thus possible but difficult to obtain? Anyone doing those sort of things already knows where to find it and is ordering the gadgets directly from manufacturers in China.

I sort of feel that lasers are different though. Unlike cell phone jammers, powerful lasers DO have their purposes, though I do admit that most people use them for the wrong reasons, which makes me fear there will be a crackdown on them too.

I have always wanted one in my trunk. As it says "illegal to block authorized communications", I wonder if it will be legal to run them in cars where yapping on the cell/distracted driving, is banned (and thus not authorized)?

Authorization stems from the FCC, not from any local law enforcement in places where using a cellphone is prohibited. The device is what becomes authorized, and whether or not it's permitted to use the authorized device doesn't make it unauthorized.

Even if it could be argued since the particular usage case is illegal (in some areas), the use of a jammer while on the highway also prevents passengers from using the same services.

Crackhead Johny wrote:

JGoat wrote:

And screw any problems it causes for people in emergency situations, ay?

It will also prevent people from winning the lottery!Seriously 99.99whatever percent of people yapping on the cell while driving are not having an "emergency" beyond needing to make sure the PVR is set up to record tonight's episode of Dancing With the Mouth Breathers. It is worse that drunk driving, wouldn't it be nice if we had drunk jammers in our car, that would sober up the people in the cars around us?"OMG but what about emergencies?!" is the common "I have a right to yap and drive" argument and doesn't hold water. Do we want to add panicked emergency driving to something already worse than drunk driving? I suppose we could also have drunks put on blindfolds before they drive home.

While I agree with the sentiment that, in general, people shouldn't use their cells while driving, breaching a law while justifying it under the premise of enforcing a law is vigilantism. While we're at that, we might as well start dragging them out of their car, hitching them up to horses, and parading them down the town's main street heralded with pitchforks and torches. I can agree that stronger enforcement is needed in many places, that enforcement shouldn't be carried out by just any Joe or Jane with a Paypal account.

Anyone who's serious about jamming cell phones, or making a multi-watt laser to burn through stuff, or anything of that sort that is kinda-sorta legal to buy but not legal to use and thus possible but difficult to obtain? Anyone doing those sort of things already knows where to find it and is ordering the gadgets directly from manufacturers in China.

I sort of feel that lasers are different though. Unlike cell phone jammers, powerful lasers DO have their purposes, though I do admit that most people use them for the wrong reasons, which makes me fear there will be a crackdown on them too.

I'm in the process of buying a 60W laser for engraving and cutting. No legal issues at all. The distributor has an industrial laser cutter that cuts 1" steel. You could strap a British secret agent to the thing.

But yeah, acquiring lasers of that power that aren't pay of an assembly can be more difficult.

Gee... and to think: How did we ever get along without cellular communications back in the day that would make jammers such a critically offensive item to own, sell or use.

Back then, people witnessing an accident would pull over and find a payphone. There aren't any payphones. Or a trucker would raise State Patrol on CB. Cops aren't on CB anymore. Or the victim would just lie there and bleed to death because no one was able to call emergency services because they didn't have cell phones back then. If there's an emergency today, and if you want emergency services to respond, that means a cell phone call at least 99.9% of time.

We got along just fine before the CB or police radio, but mortality rate on the roads was very high. Life was cheaper then.

Go back further still, and people crossed the continent in covered wagons with no outside support of any sort. Mortality rate was one in twenty.

These cell phone jammers have been available in Europe for two decades or more. I've wanted one for years. There is not much 911 danger inside a quite and nice restaurant just before some jackass gets a buzz from the pocket toy and proceeds to fill the room with his or her loud conversation for the next 5 or 10 minutes. The general public seems to be increasingly discourteous these days and it seems as if having a cell phone gives them some kind of extra legitimacy or privileged.

It is very irritating to wait in a lobby for an appointment, finally walk into the office and then be preempted perhaps by a phone call. Obviously the phone call must be more important than your personal visit... Or what about sitting at a table with an acquaintance or two and you're telling a humorous story. A cell phone rings, your "friend" blabs for the next 6 minutes with - you don't know who; and when he's done you can't remember what you were talking about in the first place?

Yeah; I've wanted a jammer for years. Just for certain occasions. One that fits in the pocket and has about a 30' range.

Which one is the most self-entitled arrogant person, the one who rudely talks on his phone at inappropriate places and time or the one who intentionally block every cellular signal in the vicinity for his own comfort?

These cell phone jammers have been available in Europe for two decades or more. I've wanted one for years. There is not much 911 danger inside a quite and nice restaurant just before some jackass gets a buzz from the pocket toy and proceeds to fill the room with his or her loud conversation for the next 5 or 10 minutes. The general public seems to be increasingly discourteous these days and it seems as if having a cell phone gives them some kind of extra legitimacy or privileged.

It is very irritating to wait in a lobby for an appointment, finally walk into the office and then be preempted perhaps by a phone call. Obviously the phone call must be more important than your personal visit... Or what about sitting at a table with an acquaintance or two and you're telling a humorous story. A cell phone rings, your "friend" blabs for the next 6 minutes with - you don't know who; and when he's done you can't remember what you were talking about in the first place?

Yeah; I've wanted a jammer for years. Just for certain occasions. One that fits in the pocket and has about a 30' range.

Putting aside for the moment the incredibly massive God-complex one must have to feel like the sole arbiter of what constitutes "acceptable risk of danger" to warrant cell-phone jamming, the number of people who believe it is acceptable to forcibly modify other people's behavior without their consent because it "offends" them is absolutely frightening to me. I wonder how many of these people are screaming about how unfair it is the government taxes or regulates them, or how their First Amendment right to free speech is perpetually infringed. Perhaps they don't, but the First Amendment argument is enough to warrant banning this technology without the extremely obvious safety concerns. The government is responsible for ensuring that our right to free speech remains unharmed, both by the government and by the tyranny of vigilantes who believe they can be the adjudicator of society's rights.

Not to mention THE SAFETY CONCERNS. So it's okay to use a cell phone jammer in a restaurant because restaurants are safe places? News flash, buddy, restaurants are notorious for fires, choking hazards, cuts, and other forms of personal injuries. In fact, everywhere you have an assembly of people you have risks. Who appointed you to be the judge of what is acceptable risk? If you had a cell phone jammer and kept me from being able to reach the authorities during an emergency, God forbid one that led to a death, you better believe that I'd be charging you for murder.

Also, it's a f***ing cell phone conversation, not a hate crime happening in front of you. If your friend conducts a full-length cell phone conversation in the middle of your story, you either have terrible friends or aren't a very interesting person. If you want to regulate society to "improve" it, go campaign for awareness or lobby get a law passed. Until then, stay the hell out of everyone else's business and property.

Yeah, I can understand why you shouldn't do it. However, I will say this: back when I worked in retail, there was little more annoying than the stupid asshole that would get to the checkout counter while on the phone, and do the one-finger "hang on" signal while they were talking. If you're not ready to conduct a transaction, how about you step the fuck aside and let the guy who isn't on his phone check out?

Those were the times I dearly wished for a jammer under the counter with a momentary switch - let me just press the button long enough for the asshole's call to get dropped, then we can carry on.

as Luck hAs it, I reaD about a waY to build just such A thing, anD it wAs about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and not all that complicated. As I recall, it involved a couple crystals of specific frequencies and a coil made of several hundred feet of bell wire, and not a whole lot more.

I have had a rather kick ass jammer hooked up to my motorcycle for over a year. It is great for dealing with the turds who are more busy farting with their phone instead of driving.

For the record, I've used my phone to dial 911 numerous times for dangerous drivers, accidents, drunk drivers, and just plain idiots. It even saved someone's life once, and it happened to be the driver in question. If the cops pull you over with it and they recognize what it is, the FCC is the least of your concerns. Prison time for tampering with emergency communications would be.

If you're not ready to conduct a transaction, how about you step the fuck aside and let the guy who isn't on his phone check out?

Those were the times I dearly wished for a jammer under the counter with a momentary switch - let me just press the button long enough for the asshole's call to get dropped, then we can carry on.

cactusbush wrote:

It is very irritating to wait in a lobby for an appointment, finally walk into the office and then be preempted perhaps by a phone call. Obviously the phone call must be more important than your personal visit... Or what about sitting at a table with an acquaintance or two and you're telling a humorous story. A cell phone rings, your "friend" blabs for the next 6 minutes with - you don't know who; and when he's done you can't remember what you were talking about in the first place?

Grow a backbone and ask the person to either wrap it up or go somewhere else. What is wrong with you people?

Yeah, I can understand why you shouldn't do it. However, I will say this: back when I worked in retail, there was little more annoying than the stupid asshole that would get to the checkout counter while on the phone, and do the one-finger "hang on" signal while they were talking. If you're not ready to conduct a transaction, how about you step the fuck aside and let the guy who isn't on his phone check out?

Those were the times I dearly wished for a jammer under the counter with a momentary switch - let me just press the button long enough for the asshole's call to get dropped, then we can carry on.

Oh, I can sympathize. But, my last retail experience before I bailed out (and man I'm glad I did) was marked by my response to such a gesture: asking for the next person in line. But, that was in a truck stop and you could generally get away with more things like that.

Quote:

as Luck hAs it, I reaD about a waY to build just such A thing, anD it wAs about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and not aLl that cOmplicated. As I recall, it inVolvEd a coupLe crystAls of specific frequenCies and a coil made of several hundred feet of bell wire, and not a wholE lot more.

I have had a rather kick ass jammer hooked up to my motorcycle for over a year. It is great for dealing with the turds who are more busy farting with their phone instead of driving.

Well, if you have a motorcycle accident, and some good Samaritan can't call 911 on your behalf because of your little device, I hope you'll be at peace with that decision while you're bleeding out.

Yeah that's always a bad idea as such a device can really cause some issues in the wrong situation. I built one years ago for a science fair project that I did not win because I threw up while giving my presentation. Yeah I had some messed up nerve problems back then that thankfully I don't have now. Oh well it's most likely resting in a junkyard somewhere in the trunk of my old Mustang.

If you're gonna have fun kids just get a train horn and go to Wal-Mart just be careful to not get your ass kicked rofl.

I am sure I am going to get downvoted by overzealous phone (ab)users who won't agree with my opinion but I will risk it anyway.

Dawnrazor wrote:

Most people who use jammers are self centered pricks who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves. Why else would they inconvenience every else in a restaurant or store just because they don't like people talking?

Let me fix that for you:

Most people who use phones in a restaurant, store, cinema, public transport... are self centered pricks who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves. Why else would they inconvenience everyone else in those places?

Yes, phones can be usefull, nobody argues that. But couple them with the increasing lack of courtesy and sense of time and place and you get the worst possible annoyance.

I am sure I am going to get downvoted by overzealous phone (ab)users who won't agree with my opinion but I will risk it anyway.

Dawnrazor wrote:

Most people who use jammers are self centered pricks who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves. Why else would they inconvenience every else in a restaurant or store just because they don't like people talking?

Let me fix that for you:

Most people who use phones in a restaurant, store, cinema, public transport... are self centered pricks who don't give a fuck about anyone but themselves. Why else would they inconvenience everyone else in those places?

Yes, phones can be usefull, nobody argues that. But couple them with the increasing lack of courtesy and sense of time and place and you get the worst possible annoyance.

Let me fix that for you :Most people who use phones in.... don't interfere with first responder communication.Most people who use jammers... don't care about interfering with first responder communication.

1 - This is what the FCC considers a priority issue? I want my taxes spent better

2 - I ride mass transit and there are constantly self-centered idiots on the train or bus blabbering away with no consideration for the others within earshot (~50ft?). If someone put a jammer on for a moment, enough to knock the idiot off the phone, so I don't have to hear some chick bantering about some drama or some guy going on about how awesome some girl blew him to a buddy.... I'm all for it.

Luckily, the trains are introducing 'quiet cars' where audio of pretty much any kind is restricted. I'd even support them adding a permanent jammer to further instill a serene atmosphere for people to make their 30min-2hr commute. It's been immensely successful and further proves people want quiet commutes and that the rude people on the phones loudly and indiscriminately are in the wrong.And that applies to idiots driving on the road too, not paying attention. Hands free is a different story, but likely they're driving properly because they can navigate their automobile without hindranc and wouldn't be jammed to begin with.

Consideration is the key here, and the caller is the offender, not the person knocking them off the phone.

3 - From my understanding, the range for these devices is pretty short... 10, 20 ft max.Those crying about 911 or emergency bandwidth being blocked are vastly over reacting.

Now, if the device is used to block communications on a lengthy period of time or to cause extensive interruption, that's a different matter and should involve law enforcement investigation.The FCC pissing away their cycles on something like a massive waste for the agency.

Remember back in the days before widespread cellphone use? When the emergency services managed just fine, and people managed to get places just fine?

Mobile phones are a convenience. The fact that some people turn that convenience into an annoyance is unfortunate but not unexpected. Personally I'd be all for installation of a jammer in each cinema screen, but I'm hard pressed to justify it elsewhere.

I use my cellphone constantly in my car - in its car dock, where it provides me live-updated traffic information and assists with a few open source mapping projects, all of which require a data connection -- including ones that might allow me to report road hazards which could save lives.

There was a trucker with a GPS jammer in New Jersey once, presumably because he didn't want his bosses watching him too closely (this is apparently common in trucking and delivery companies). He drove past EWR most days, knocking out the airport's GPS equipment each time. They busted his ass for it.

as Luck hAs it, I reaD about a waY to build just such A thing, anD it wAs about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and not aLl that cOmplicated. As I recall, it inVolvEd a coupLe crystAls of specific frequenCies and a coil made of several hundred feet of bell wire, and not a wholE lot more.

FTFY

Actually, I think it was a reference to Limor Fried (aka Lady Ada of Adafruit Industries) and her M.Eng thesis at the MIT Media Lab. She designed and built a small, self-tuning, wide-bandwidth RF jammer. The design files are online for those who care to look.

Its funny, the people who rant about rude cell phone behavior apparently don't have the balls to tell the annoying people to shut up, or to just find another place, and instead want to be a coward and just knock out all cell phones. What if one of those people in the restaurant is waiting to hear about a sick family member? Or a pregnant wife? Or a school wants to call about their kids?

WTF is up with the hubris of some here who think they get to decide when others use their cell phone?

Exactly. Many comments boil down to "I don't want to hear your annoying conversation" or "you're acting rudely because you're on a cell phone". Both of those are annoying, but that doesn't give you the right to interfere.

Maybe we could fix this - require the jammer (or the person using the jammer) to have a big flashing light. That way everyone would know exactly who is responsible for the problem. Strangely if people couldn't use these jammers anonymously, I don't think they'd have as much use.